Did this car to car in 1998. Agree with 5.10b4me, exit chimney is harder than any of the other supposed cruxes. Much simulable terrain and the classic set of features that are climbed make this a great climb on a great peak. Much fun to pull over the summit boulders to the surprise of the hikers on top.

My first lead climb, did it in 1979 in late September right after a snow storm. The washboard was caked with ice and impassible. We had to traverse it and head up and right through a 5.9 dihedral. That added 3 hours to the climb and an epic descent in the dark back to the car.

Just watch for conditions before you depart. The weather changes dramatically so be prepared. I've been on top 7 times now, (once via Keeler Needle) and twice have been caught by hail, rain and lightning storms. Wear a helmet and enjoy the scenery.

Climbed this September 21st, 2002 on a crisp, clear fall day. Fantastic, and the Tower Traverse and Fresh Air Traverse lived up to their names - much fun.

Advice: Stay a pitch behind anyone (especially inexperienced climbers) on any straight up pitches. It is very loose and I have a new ding in my helmet to prove it.

Advice if you are inexperienced: Watch your rope handling on loose stuff! Ouch!

The Supertopo was great. When we got to the Fresh Air Traverse, there was a party that had been stuck there FOR 2 HOURS trying to find the route. And the guy had climbed it twice before! We pulled out the Supertopo and said, "gee, I think its right there".

By the way, the leader of this party said he dropped his $4,000 Rolex watch on the Tower Traverse. He was having a bad day...

I struggled on the 5.7 crux chimney move at the top. I downclimbed, belayed my partner up to the base of it, shed my pack and tried again. Then I hauled the packs up the short section. Worked for me.

Did this route September 19. What an awesome route with perfect weather. The Tower Traverse and the Open Air Traverse make this route a must-do for every climber. The exposure is insane but the climbing is so moderate and straight forward that there is never a gripped moment; just an adrenaline rush.

We bivied at Upper Boy Scout Lake the night before which made for a long approach on the climb day. Unfortunatley, we started late, topped out at 5 p.m., and ended up wandering lost in the dark until 10 pm making our way from Iceburg Lake back to Upper Boy Scout Lake. Next time we need to get up earlier or bivy at Iceburg Lake.
We both wore approach shoes for the hike, the approach, and the climb and brought a small set of cams, a set of nuts, and 5 slings with free biners all mostly used for anchors at the ends of the pitches.
Although this route goes at 5.7 and below, there is plenty of opportunity to spice it up with a million and one variations on each pitch offering variety for every climber at every level.
Have fun!
Brian

a friend and i climbed the east face whitney rt. oct. 14,03 super climb! based at upper boy scout lake got to ice berg lake at 10:00am got water started off and didnot top out till 8:30pm that night, last 3 pitches in dark and off route but still fun! had to spend cold night at top because could not find mountaineer trail to come down in the dark! weather was excellant clear cold at night, day hot when sun out on east face! just a super work out! jim

We did it Car to Car in 14 hours. Took the "shaky legs crack" variation during the "fresh air traverse" Nearly took a bowling ball size rock up my a** from a party above on the grand staircase. If someone is ahead of you when you hit the fresh air traverse be careful ! You are in the drop zone. Route finding takes a little patience.

What is the deal with the wilderness permits? We wanted to do this route and Keeler Needle this August camping at Iceberg Lake, but I couldnít reserve the permit because all are already taken. However, several of my friends have done the Mountaineers trail in summer and they all say that they didnít get any permit and had no problems. Can anybody give me some light about this?
Oscar

As long as you are comfortable without a rope on 3rd class and easy 4th class terrain, I think the East Face goes about like this -

scramble easy 3rd class to the notch between the 1st and 2nd tower, where the E Face and E Butt both start rope up, lead one easy traversing pitch to the left ("Tower Traverse") finishing with a semi-awkward but easy wide crack; belay on large ledge just above that wide crack (protects with nuts and such) unrope, scramble a few hundred feet of easy 3rd class, finishing with a few 4th class moves up and over a notch to your left, and down about 20 feet to a big ledge rope up, traverse left ("Fresh Air Traverse") for a while, then head up for a little while - there are a bunch of ledges, belay where you want Climb two more roped pitches until you are done with the steep terrain; belay on any of a variety of ledges at the end of each pitch. Unrope, scramble a few hundred feet of easy 4th class to the top

So in answer to ola's specific question, there is no need to choose any particular belay spot apart from the ones at the start and finish of the Tower Traverse; and I don't think that a 60m rope would really make it fewer pitches, unless you are going to belay all of that 3rd and 4th class (in which case you are going to be out there for a LOOONNNNG time)

In response to 60meter ropes...I think you need to consider the potential for rock fall with longer ropes, especially on the staircase(after the fresh air traverse). I don't think you really speed yourself up that much on a meandering route like this with longer ropes. Consider simulclimbing on the washboard and above the staircase to speed things up. Have fun, a really fun route.

3 of us did this route yesterday 12 hrs, car2car. There was a lot less roped climbing than I had expected, lots of 3rd-4th. We kept the rope on for the staircase and didn't knock anything down, and we were the only ones on the climb at the time.

Topping out was crazy, it hit us unexpectedly, and there were at least 30 people up there, asking where we appeared from!

Climbed this again last week. The N fork of Lone pine creek is in the easiest condition I've ever seen it. Very cut back and a low water flow. No snow at Iceberg lake or in the mountaineers gully. A few afternoon thunderstorms popping up. Super Topo for the route is right on like always.

The annual allotment of wilderness permits are divvied up each year and issued both through reservations and on a walk in basis. The reserved ones are usually gobbled up a year in advance. The remaining few are issued daily in Lone Pine on a first come, first served basis.

One shouldn't need to be reminded of this, but according to the link below, folks have been leaving their used wag bags in the North Fork area rather than packing them out. The person who started the thread below counted 17 used bags left to ferment in that area.

Please let's remember that the Upper Boyscout/Iceberg Lake area is a delicate one and that we need to tread lightly to preserve it's beauty.

Heads up for anyone thinking of doing this route car to car. The Forest Service recently changed the walk-in permit system for the Whitney zone. 100% of all day permits are now reservable. Check out this link to see if your dates are reservable.http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/inyo/recreation/wild/otheravail.shtml

*What is "Route Beta"?
It's climber slang for information or tips on a route as in, "what's
the beta on that route?" As a service to fellow climbers we ask SuperTopo
guidebook users to post tips and updates to this website if they have relevant
information to share after a climb.